Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on ending the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

This government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of people stuck in limbo without any prospect of having their claims processed. At their peak use under the previous government, in the autumn of 2023, more than 400 asylum hotels were being leased by the Home Office, at a cost of almost £9 million a day.

We took immediate action to resolve that chaos by restarting asylum processing, establishing the new Border Security Command to tackle the people-smuggling gangs, cracking down on illegal working across the country, and increasing the return and removal of people with no right to be here.

Inevitably, due to the size of the backlog we inherited, the Home Office has been forced to continue with the use of hotels for the time being. But this is not a permanent solution, and the small increase in the number in use at the end of last year was just a temporary but necessary step to manage pressures in the system, which is now in the process of being reversed.

It remains our absolute commitment to end the use of hotels over time, as part of our reduction in overall asylum accommodation costs. In the interim, we are also continuing to increase our operational activity against smuggling gangs and illegal working, and we have increased returns to their highest level since 2018, with 16,400 people removed in the first six months this government was in charge.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2024 to Question 15845 on Small Businesses: Recruitment, when he plans to publish the small business strategy.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government will publish a Small Business Strategy Paper later this year.

This will set out the Government’s vision for all small businesses, from boosting scale-ups to growing the co-operative economy, across key policy areas such as creating thriving high streets, making it easier to access finance, opening up overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment.

The paper will complement the Government’s forthcoming Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Transport for London to reduce fare evasion.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London on a variety of issues including fare evasion on their network. Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL is responsible for operational decisions to support reduced fare evasion.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the utilities industry on minimising disruption caused by street works.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport works closely with industry stakeholders, including utility companies, as we continue to review our legislation, statutory guidance and guidance, to identify areas where the regime can be improved to minimise the impact of street works. We have recently announced to the industry that we will be clamping down on disruptive works by doubling fixed penalty notices for utility companies who fail to comply with rules and extending charges for works that overrun into weekends.

As more highway authorities are progressing with their applications to operate lane rental schemes to target the most disruptive works on our roads, my Department have been engaging with utility companies directly as part of a series of regional visits. Utility companies have also been invited, along with a range of other stakeholders, to take part in a consultation on proposals to improve and simplify the lane rental application process.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many street works carried out under emergency procedures she considers as evidence of misuse.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department have examined data from our Street Manager digital service and spoken to industry representatives and found no evidence of misuse. Emergency works are needed to deal with danger to life and urgent works are needed, for example, to repair leaks, restore customer connections, and repair dangerous potholes. The Government believes, however, that there is scope to improve how such works are managed and communicated to road users and we are working with the sector to develop proposals to address this.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle financial scams.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

We are committed to working with law enforcement, industry, civil society and international partners to tackle financial scams. This includes blocking fraud at its source, disrupting it before it reaches the public, and providing preventative advice and support such as our “Stop! Think Fraud” campaign.

Further industry action includes potential legislative action to ban “SIM farms”, technical devices that allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at the same time, and the Online Safety Act codes of practice which will come into effect in March.

In due course we will publish an expanded Fraud Strategy as set out in our manifesto, which will cover the full range of threats that our society faces from this crime.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Florence Eshalomi (Chair); Lewis Cocking; Chris Curtis; Maya Ellis

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Florence Eshalomi (Chair); Lewis Cocking; Chris Curtis; Maya Ellis

Found: Member for Broxbourne (Lewis Cocking) get to speak about this really important issue, and do that in

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Florence Eshalomi (Chair); Lewis Cocking; Chris Curtis; Mr Lee Dillon